News From USW: USW Reiterates Its Readiness to Bargain; Assumes Goodyear Announcement Means that Company Has Abandoned its Reckless Agenda

PITTSBURGH--News From USW: The United Steelworkers (USW) said today it was pleased to hear that Goodyear is prepared to return its negotiators to contract talks in Cincinnati. Last Friday, the USW sent James L. Allen, Goodyear's Global Labor Relations director a letter stating that the union was prepared to resume talks when the company abandoned its plans to close more plants and walk away from its health care obligations.

“We are pleased that the company has apparently come to its senses and will return to the table," said Tom Conway, USW International vice president."We stand ready to bargain a fair labor agreement, as we always have, and assume by this announcement that the company has abandoned its destructive position on closing plants and slashing health care."

"We look forward to productive discussions whereby our members can to return to making quality products and sincerely hope that this is a good faith attempt by Goodyear to solve problems and not place further obstructions in the path to reaching a fair and equitable agreement,” said USW International president Leo W. Gerard.

After a brief meeting in Pittsburgh last Friday, the USW notified Allen in writing that the union was prepared to return to bargaining table when Goodyear indicated its willingness to negotiate meaningful plant and retiree medical security.

The letter advised that "the Union is prepared to return to the bargaining table as soon as the Company informs us that it is prepared to make a proposal that provides security to all steelworker factories and if you insist on using a trust to provide retiree health care, fund it with enough resources so that current employees can expect to receive benefits consistent with the existing program when they retire."

The USW position is that the company must be prepared to bargain, not dictate terms of the new agreement. "We received a call today from Jim Allen and are pleased that the possibility of a different tone for our talks exists," said Conway.

Goodyear forced 15,000 USW members in 16 plants in North America out on strike October 5. Despite innovations delivered by the union and concessions taken by its members and retirees in the 2003 contract that contributed to the company's turnaround, Goodyear continued to insist on additional plant closings and more concessions in this round of bargaining.

Overall, the USW presents more than 850,000 members in the U.S. and Canada. Some 70,000 are employed in the tire, rubber and plastics industry.